Field
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a semiconductor processing chamber and, more specifically, a heated support pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber having multi-zone temperature control.
Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor processing involves a number of different chemical and physical processes enabling minute integrated circuits to be created on a substrate. Layers of materials which make up the integrated circuit are created by chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, epitaxial growth, and the like. Some of the layers of material are patterned using photoresist masks and wet or dry etching techniques. The substrate utilized to form integrated circuits may be silicon, gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, glass, or other appropriate material.
In the manufacture of integrated circuits, plasma processes are often used for deposition or etching of various material layers. Plasma processing offers many advantages over thermal processing. For example, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) allows deposition processes to be performed at lower temperatures and at higher deposition rates than achievable in analogous thermal processes. Thus, PECVD is advantageous for integrated circuit fabrication with stringent thermal budgets, such as for very large scale or ultra-large scale integrated circuit (VLSI or ULSI) device fabrication.
The processing chambers used in these processes typically include a substrate support or pedestal disposed therein to support the substrate during processing. In some processes, the pedestal may include an embedded heater adapted to control the temperature of the substrate and/or provide elevated temperatures that may be used in the process. Conventionally, the pedestals may be made of a ceramic material, which generally provide desirable device fabrication results.
However, ceramic pedestals create numerous challenges. One of these challenges is multiple zone heating and/or accurate temperature control of one or more of the zones. In addition, ceramic materials may not be readily machinable as compared to other materials, such as aluminum, and creates a manufacturing challenge for the forming of grooves therein for electrical leads and/or for embedded temperature sensing devices.
Therefore, what is needed is a pedestal that is temperature-controlled in multiple zones.